Zurich Old Town — The Forgotten Dada Manifesto

Your quest begins in front of the Cabaret Voltaire, at Spiegelgasse 1, Zurich. It was here that Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings founded the birthplace of the Dada movement in February 1916. This historic 15th-century stone building, located in Zurich's Old Town (Altstadt), served as a meeting place for exiled artists such as Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, and Hans Arp during World War I. On February 5, 1916, the first documented Dada evening took place here, marking the beginning of the sound poetry performances and anti-war artistic manifestations that would shake Europe.

A few steps away, Spiegelgasse, this medieval cobbled alley about 150 meters long in the Altstadt district, was the geographical center of the movement. Dating from the 13th century, it concentrated artistic cafés and clandestine galleries. At Spiegelgasse 14, 50 meters from Cabaret Voltaire, Lenin resided from February 1916 to April 1917. These half-timbered facades and small-paned windows, typical of old Zurich, were silent witnesses to the political and artistic revolutions that coexisted in this narrow street.

Your journey then takes you to Lindenhof, a historic elevated square at an altitude of 410 meters, overlooking the Limmat. Occupied since Roman times (Turicum, 2nd century) and a former Zähringen fortress (11th-12th centuries), this 3,000 m² public space with its century-old plane trees planted in the 19th century offers a panoramic view of the Altstadt. Lindenhof was a gathering place for Zurich's political movements, including pacifist demonstrations during the Great War, offering a serene contrast to Dada's intellectual agitations.

Not far, the Grossmünster, a Romanesque cathedral founded in 1100 by the Zähringen and completed in the 13th century, with its twin towers of 115 meters, embodies another form of rupture. Located 200 meters from Cabaret Voltaire, it was the seat of the Zurich Protestant Reformation under Huldrych Zwingli (1519-1531). The modern stained-glass windows by Augusto Giacometti (1932-1933) symbolize the break with the established order, making this edifice a dominant architectural site of the Dada route, through its history of protest and renewal.

The Rathausbrücke, a 52-meter stone bridge dating from 1878, spanning the Limmat, was a strategic crossing point connecting Altstadt and Limmatquai. Its historic frescoes from 1896, painted by Zurich artists, depict civic history and witnessed the crossroads of pacifist demonstrations from 1914-1918. Your exploration of Zurich Old Town will also lead you to the Predigerkirche, a Gothic church built 1231-1250, converted into a concert hall. You will conclude your circuit at the Kunsthaus Zürich, founded in 1910, which houses the world's most important Dada collection with over 1,200 works, and at Paradeplatz, a financial center and gathering place. This thematic circuit offers you a complete immersion in Zurich's UNESCO cultural heritage, tracing the history of this 1916 artistic movement and Swiss neutrality during World War I, at the heart of modern and avant-garde art.